Hallelujah
by Artemisdesari
Summary: Final part of the Hand of Sorrow verse. The Winchesters search for answers, Katie meets her fate and Lucifer finally gets his way. Now COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

_Days off are good for something, especially the wet ones where I can only go as far as the local supermarket without drowning. This is the final part of the Hand of Sorrow verse so some things will be cleared up and the way will be paved for the next arc. If you don't recognise the song then I am disappointed, it is Hallelujah although I can never remember who the original was by, I believe it was Jeff Buckley._

_**Disclaimer:** Seriously? Do you really think that I own them given the circumstances or the hell that I am putting them all through (Although Mr. Kripke, if you're listening, can you please give Cas to me, for keeps, I promise I'll treat him well) Likewise I don't own the song, which has been covered so much since it was released but I have only heard one other version that has moved me as much as the original did. At the Asylum convention in May this year, Jason Manns performed it, it was incredible._

Hallelujah.

_**I heard there was a secret chord  
That David played and it pleased the lord  
But you don't really care for music, do you  
Well it goes like this the fourth, the fifth  
The minor fall and the major lift  
The baffled king composing hallelujah**_

Hallelujah...

They have holed up at Bobby's place, the older hunter less than impressed with the news that the three of them have brought his way, but there is little else that they can do. The general lack of angelic stalkers recently seems to indicate that they have lost interest in Dean and Castiel for the moment, their interest in Sam seems to simply be in the sense of using him to get to Dean and in turn to Castiel.

Dean is outside, because right now, he needs some space, what with their desperate search for Lucifer the last few days, Sam's major guilt complex, Castiel on edge again and Bobby watching them all like a hawk and keeping the alcohol and cutlery locked away for good measure, Dean is feeling more than a little stifled.

There is nothing about this situation that is easy, even in comparison to all the stuff that they have gone through in the last few years. Defeating Lucifer is perhaps the most difficult thing that they have ever been told to do and now Castiel has pulled the rug out from under him. Now that the Lightbringer has Katie, now that he is in the position where he has little other choice than to take her for his vessel, there is no way for them to just lock Lucifer up.

Lucifer has to die, which means that Katie has to die, her life another one taken because the Winchester brothers just cannot seem to get anything right these days. Dean stares up at the stars outside Bobby's place, wondering when and where things went so wrong for them, what happened to the simple life as hunters that they once had, why they are the ones so touched by a destiny that they neither wanted nor craved.

The fall of quiet feet tells him that Sam has joined him, makes Dean want to say that if he apologises one more time there will be an impromptu smack down in Bobby's yard. The youngest does not speak, not at first, and when he does he does not talk about what happened to him, about the things that Lucifer did, he simply asks after Dean, asks if _he_ is alright. After everything that Dean had to go through without Sam at his side, everything that he had to go through _because _of Sam and miraculously, Dean _is_, he really is, alright.

Thing about all of this, about trying to stop Katie going after Lucifer, trying to find Lucifer and find a way to kill him, is that Dean has not really had _time_ to think. Has not had time to dwell on Hell or his bizarre angel blood addiction, has not had to _deal_ with any of it and he knows that the day is rapidly approaching when he will have to deal with it all, when all of this is over and he and Sam can go back to their lives. Right now, however, he is remarkably fine, and that is just the way that he wants to be. So he shrugs off Sam's concern and they head back inside.

Bobby is still pouring over the book that Castiel gave him, the one that the angel said had been tampered with, trying to figure out it's origins, because Bobby has never seen this book before, never even heard of it, though he _has_ heard of the original owner and, as it turns out, Katie's father. Which just makes it worse, that her father was a hunter killed on the job six years ago who tried his best to keep his daughter ignorant and his wife safe. Wasted no time in telling Dean and Castiel, both, that they should have just come to him in the first place instead of trying to keep him out of it, out of the crossfire between demons and angels that the Winchesters are right in the middle of, because Bobby would have made sure that Peter's daughter did not go out there and get herself killed. The kicker is that they all know that he is right.

Castiel is researching as well, dark hair stuck up all at odd angles where he has taken to running his fingers through it as he reads, trying to find clues to things that he would never have been told about in Heaven. It is not easy going. There is little in human lore that speaks of the most likely course that Lucifer will take now that he is free.

It is a strange sight, the angel sat behind one of Bobby's desks, books all around him, brow furrowed as he reads. Dean knows that he will find something, that if any of them can it will be Castiel, because he knows what he is looking for, knows what they need to find, hopes that the answers comes soon, because people are still dying, and it seems that the angels are still being lead around by the demons, going where the forces are concentrated and not where Lucifer is most likely to be.

Dean is on the verge of asking Castiel if it would be worth contacting them, the other angels, to see if maybe they could help more, rather than just threatening to lock Dean away and kill Cas. He does not, knows that the angel will tell him that it is a bad idea, knows that anyway. Some part of him just wants it said out loud.

"Dean," the gravel of Castiel's voice breaks through his train of thought and what he sees in the angel's face does not fill him with confidence, blue eyes haunted, face scrunched up in a scowl as he rereads the page he has stopped at. "I know what Lucifer is planning."

SPN

Katie has been locked in this room for three days, she thinks, at least, she has slept three times but that is the only way to measure the passage of time, she has been fed a few times, just enough to keep her lucid, just enough to keep her strong for what ever use they have for her. She does not see anyone, not human, not demon, not fallen angel. She knows that they are out there, biding their time, and there is little more for her to do than to wait.

She spends her days curled in the corner of the room, jacket and weapons taken from her by Astaroth when she was grabbed from the mausoleum. She spends her time staring at blank walls, sometimes she sings, when the silence and solitude gets too much, and she wonders when she managed to make so many monumentally bad mistakes in her life.

Finally she wakes one day, or night, she has no way to tell which, to find the that the door to the room is open and a figure is stood there, illuminated by light from the hallway behind and red eyes that seem to almost glow in the darkness. It is Astaroth and Katie feels herself shrink closer to the wall.

The fallen angel sniffs the air, wrinkles her nose at the smell and gestures behind her, summoning two demons to the room with instructions to get her cleaned up. Her lackeys are not gentle, dragging Katie from the room forcefully enough that the young woman knows that there will be bruises. She fights them, all her instincts scream for her to do so, and they laugh at her attempts as they rip the clothes from her body and shove her under a cold shower, handing her soap and shampoo and telling her to scrub.

Humiliated and defeated, frightened, Katie does as she is told, washing hair and skin rapidly, flinching when she catches the cuts left in her skin by the nails of the demon's hosts. It is enough to make her sob, all too much after everything else that has happened to her over the last few months. At the sound of the first strangled moan from her lips the demons are there again, pulling her from the cold water and throwing a towel at her. She works on auto pilot now, drying herself and then slipping into the simple white summer dress that they toss her way.

There is an irony there, in the white dress, the way that she has been forced to wash, like she is a sacrifice to the devil. In a way, she knows that she is, she knows that she will be forced to become a vessel for Lucifer and that this is most likely the first step in preparing her.

When they lead her from the room, Astaroth is waiting for her, takes her to another room, this one clean and light, airy, a mirror on one wall and the fallen angel leads her there, standing behind her and trailing a finger across the brand which is now exposed for the first time since the sword wound had healed, the brand which lies unbroken even though the blade passed straight through it.

"There was a time," Astaroth purrs, "when this was a sign of our _love_ for humans, a sign that we chose to bind ourselves to a vessel for all of time so that we could act upon our love, our carnal desires with a mortal body and soul. Those of my brethren who did that _sickened_ me and it earned them their rightful places in Hell. It would amuse them to find that it has become a punishment, a deterrent. It amuses me that it will be the method by which Lucifer will become invincible against every method of defeating him that Dean Winchester has access too. That by making you into a sealed vessel, Seraphiel and Zachariah have handed us the world."

"Dean can still kill me," Katie insists and hears Astaroth laugh as she steps away, the room filling with light, does not hear the answer as an overwhelming presence, more so that Seraphiel, fills her mind and thoughts and body. The laugh is the last thing that she hears before her mind shuts down against the onslaught of Lucifer, her last thought is that she hopes that Dean _does_ find a way to kill her.

_**Well your faith was strong but you needed proof  
You saw her bathing on the roof  
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you  
She tied you to her kitchen chair  
She broke your throne and she cut your hair  
And from your lips she drew the hallelujah**_

Hallelujah...

_Reviews are little Castiels that fly above our heads and mini Deans under the bed. A small Sam in hand and a tiny John by the chair, a review_ _that can show how much you care._

_Artemis_


	2. Chapter 2

_So, I've been trying to get this up and out for a while, but what with parties at work, people leaving and fanfic not letting me log in for two days this is the first day I've been able to. I'm getting excited now about getting this one done, this arc is closing but I have another one to come that has been swimming through my head for so long that I just need to get it down. _

_**Baby I've been here before  
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor  
I used to live alone before I knew you **_

Lucifer looks at the beings gathered before him. They are powerful, they are absolute, they are more dangerous than even Heaven's most powerful weapon. These four are the Horsemen and they are his to command.

Like all demons and angels, in order to roam the Earth and interact with it's inhabitants on more than an instinctual level, the Four have had to take on vessels. For them, he knows, this can be no more of a comfortable experience than it is for him, compressing one's self into a smaller vessel is no easy task and it is truthfully something that he despises doing. It is necessary, however, and he finds that it has it's uses, even this female body.

Like the previous owner, who slumbers under the weight of his consciousness, Lucifer keeps the brand that makes her so valuable to him hidden. It would not do for all to see it. Like her he is ashamed of it, though his shame is in the need for it rather than in the baring of it. Silently he promises himself that as soon as he is in power, as soon as Michael and his subordinates are defeated, Lucifer will find himself a male vessel, will take what pleasure he can from this one before destroying it, but that is all to come, he has more important things to deal with and he pulls his mind from the future.

He has to be cautious around the Horsemen, because they can sense weakness, can sense fear and doubt and pride. They will ally themselves with anyone, provided that person or persons show signs of winning this fight. Fortunately, even though he was slightly incapacitated when the Horsemen escaped, Astaroth is still using his plan to her own ends, is powerful enough that they would follow her lead and her orders, but not so powerful that as soon as Lucifer had his vessel she was a threat to his control over them.

Astaroth will have to be dealt with, eventually, Lucifer has his hands full right now and she is a minor irritation at worst, a minor irritation who seems to have the ear of War, which should not be surprising given her past. Lucifer will keep an eye on that alliance, however, because the Horsemen are not necessarily a singular unit. They are together because their function is the same, they all exist for the same reason, to bring about the end of the world.

Still, she has followed the plan, ordered the Horsemen to find an angel untainted by doubt to be sacrificed so that the gates to Hell can be opened. In all honesty, however, he did not expect them to achieve it quite so soon, it appears he has underestimated the strength of the Horsemen, even confined as they are inside human vessels, none of whom are anything special or different, no beauty, simply three average men and a woman. They are strong, however, even confined as they are, strong enough to overpower an angel and render it unconscious so that it cannot fight back or become aware of such a challenge to it's faith.

Now that he has the angel, however, he knows that the rest of his former brothers and sisters will be on high alert. He does not know whether they allowed Sam to kill Lillith, or if it was sheer bad luck that they did not get there in time to stop him, knows that they were all geared up to stop him if Lillith's plans, and his, were a success. He wonders if they have thought this far ahead, knows that the abomination that has attached himself to Dean Winchester's side is unaware of the whole picture, the full plan.

That makes him smirk, the thought that the term abomination is so much more apt to describe Castiel than it is to be used to describe him these days. At least Lucifer knows what he is; a fallen angel, the Lord of all Hell, Prince of Darkness and a hundred other names in a hundred other cultures across the world. Castiel is nothing, he is undefined, he is neither angel nor demon, he is not human or supernatural creature, he has the grace of an angel shattered within him and he is an abomination not only in the eyes of Lucifer and his army, but in the eyes of his Father's angels. It warms him.

There is still a great deal of preparation to do, however, before he will be ready and he has to move quickly, now that he has this angel in his possession it will not be long before the others are after him, to stop him. The Horsemen are a powerful weapon, but they are to be used sparingly, too powerful for the finer tasks, too obvious for the subtle ones. He sends them off to do what they do best, what they were named for, watches as Astaroth leaves with War, hanging off the beings presence in a way that sickens Lucifer. Soon, he decides, soon she will have to be dealt with, she is pushing too hard and too far and as soon as this task is complete he will deal with it.

SPN

Castiel has to admit that he admires Lucifer to an extent. The fallen angel has obviously put a great deal of work into his plans for the Apocalypse, for making sure that the world ends in the way that he wants it to and when he wants it to rather than when his former brothers and sisters want it to happen. Lucifer's determination is not a surprise, in fact, Lucifer's anger at his Father's decision to favour mankind should not have been a surprise either.

The more research that he has done over the last few days, using Robert Singers extensive library, the more he has come to understand just how few barriers were in place to _stop_ Lucifer if he ever got out. The gates into Hell were sealed by a mortal man, one guided by an archangel, but only because that angel had no desire to allow Lucifer too much support when he was finally freed, not because it was concerned about mankind. The seals have their weaknesses, anything created by anyone other than God will have unintentional flaws, but this is such that Castiel is certain that the builder could never have believed that it would have been possible. Castiel almost cannot believe it himself, but he knows that there was always the chance of it.

Doors over the gates to Hell, the Horsemen locked in a cage that can only be opened if an angel, a demon and a human chant the incantation together, casting the angel from it's vessel in the process, a key to gateways lost in a world too large to search fully but too small to hide in, the only way to break them open lying in an angel who has never seen and never felt doubt in their Father. Once upon a time that would have been easy to find, now Castiel is not so sure that it is possible for such a one to exist, not with all the things that he discovered before he was cast out.

Castiel has always known that he was low in the ranks of those within Heaven, too low to be noticed, too low to matter, too low to be told anything of real worth. He has always been surprised that he was the one to grasp Dean and raise him from the pits of Hell, the one to bond with him and guide him along the path that he thought was right. Now, of course, he knows the truth, that he was allowed to do these thing, chosen to do these things, because he was loyal, faithful, true to the word of his Father and his superiors, because he was blind and foolish and too low to matter if he learnt the truth. He wonders at Dean's opinion of him, that the man thought highly enough of him to declare him ally and friend, believes that one as low as he should never have come to Dean's attention in the first place.

He turns his attention back to the books, pulls his minds away from the thoughts that have been plaguing him since he was rescued, since Dean went through his withdrawal and left Castiel with a frightened young woman, alone and afraid himself, afraid that if the other angels, or even Lucifer and his demons, caught up to him he would have no way to defend himself, no way to defend them all.

It frustrates him, being this weak and helpless, having to rely on books and incomplete mortal information and mythology to find what he needs where in the past he would have turned to the knowledge of his brethren, collected over hundreds of years, thousands of years, more knowledge that mankind could ever dream of having access to. He mourns it's loss in silence and does not tell Dean, simply relies on what he does know to find the truth in what he has access to. It does not improve his mood much.

Now, however, he has figured out what Lucifer is planning to do, what he will be using the Horsemen for and it is time to make Dean aware of it, because this is going to be the end of all the things that any of them has ever known and they need to stop it before Lucifer gets his hands on what he needs.

"I know what Lucifer is planning," he tells Dean. He means it, because nothing Lucifer does is a surprise anymore, the disappointed son of an unseeing and unknown Father, which gives them something in common and that is something that Castiel never thought that he would be in a position to think.

He tells Dean, Sam and Robert Singer what he knows, that Lucifer will use the Horsemen to find him an angel without doubt, without exposure to it, to rip open the gates to Hell and unleash the full might of his armies. Worse, there is nothing that they can do to stop the Horsemen from succeeding, they are strong, far more powerful than even the archangels. They cannot target the Four, they must stop Lucifer before he can complete the ritual to open the gates.

"You must leave now," Castiel flinches when the sandy haired Sandalphon appears before them, his face tight, pinched and eyes haunted with something like emotion, even though Castiel knows that it is not. All three hunters reach for their weapons, Dean the only one to relax a little when he recognises the archangel, but he is still tense, still watching and Castiel reaches for the knife that is close to hand, always nearby now, ready to use it if necessary.

"Lucifer has what he needs, the Horsemen are drawing Michael away, into a trap, you _must_ stop him!" Sandalphon was never one to mince his words, even in his mortal life as a prophet outside of the writing he always got straight to the point. There is little information that the archangel can give them about Lucifer's location, only that he will be in the central point that falls between all of the gates, does not tell them how to get there, does not tell them what to do when they arrive, shakes his head when they ask him to fight with them, touches Castiel on the forehead briefly and vanishes as quickly as he arrived. The angel is now beginning to understand why Dean found that trick so aggravating.

It takes a long moment for anyone to speak, and then they are all moving at once, Dean to check the car and supplies, Sam reaching for a book that Castiel had all but ignored completely, a book about Samuel Colt, Robert Singer reaching the same conclusion as they put their heads together and begin to work out where they need to go. The angel leaves them to it, goes to pack away their belongings so that they are ready to go as soon as they have a destination in mind.

The final confrontation with Lucifer is almost upon them, because Castiel knows, at this point, that if Dean fails to kill the Lightbringer now, he will never get another chance, Lucifer and his minions will kill them all.

Part of Castiel welcomes death, most of him fears it.

_**I've seen your flag on the marble arch  
But love is not a victory march  
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah**_

_**Hallelujah... **_

_Reviews are little Castiels that fly above our heads and mini Deans under the bed. A small Sam in hand and a tiny John by the chair, a review_ _that can show how much you care._

_Artemis_


	3. Chapter 3

_This is the final part of The Hand of Sorrow Verse. The very final part of this arc. Thank you to everyone who has read and alerted and reviewed. I can't promise anything, but there may be a future arc to all of this, maybe._

_**  
Well there was a time when you let me know  
What's really going on below  
But now you never show that to me do you  
But remember when I moved in you  
And the holy dove was moving too  
And every breath we drew was hallelujah **_

The end is near, Dean knows that, the end of this war or the end of this battle he cannot really tell anymore, but the end is coming ever closer. He knows, just like Castiel and Sam and Bobby do, that this really is their last chance at this, their last chance to stop Lucifer before he is too well guarded or they are dead, probably even both.

They are driving towards the suspected location of Lucifer's run on the gates, driving far faster than is really safe and without a plan or a hope for success, Dean figures that they do not need one at this point, they just need to get in, kill Lucifer and _not die_, the final part being the most important because Dean would really rather like to come out of this alive and he prefers that Sam, Cas and Bobby all do too.

The only thing that they have planned is the distribution of weapons, Sam no longer having his demon killing mojo and Castiel being a little less than brilliant at hand to hand when he was a full blown angel let alone whatever he is now. They have one angel killing weapon, which presumably will also kill demons, and one demon killing knife, Castiel is still adamant that Dean is the only one who can kill Lucifer, has no reason to believe that there would be deception in that as well, so Dean has been given the bow to use, determined that the best thing to do is to take a shot at the fallen Morning Star before he has a chance to kill the angel he has kidnapped.

Sam is taking the demon killing knife, not because Dean does not believe that Bobby would be less of an asset, but because he needs the older hunter's experience in other areas. Castiel and Bobby have their own knives, crafted of iron and angelic arrowheads, no one knows if they will work, if they will be enough to stop a demon, let alone an angel, but it is all they have to go on. If that fails then the two of them will fall back on holy water and exorcisms. It is a bad plan, they all know that it is, no one needs to say it or mention it, the likelihood that it will succeed, let alone that they will all come out of it alive, is slim.

If he thinks about it all, which he is trying very hard not to, Dean is almost surprised that this whole ritual, pretty much like the entire apocalypse so far now he comes to mentioning it, is not taking place in a dingy cave or warehouse with a storm raging outside. Instead, Lucifer seems to be all set up in a wide open field and as they drop the Impala off just far away enough that the demons will not be immediately alert to their arrival, there is hardly a cloud in the sky, in fact, it is well on the way to being a beautiful day.

All in all, it feels wrong.

Naturally this puts a crimp in the plan ever so slightly, because now there will be no sneaking and no stealth involved in the attack, nor is there any time left to step back and rethink, they will simply have to march in, get Dean to the point where he might have a clean shot with the only weapon capable of killing an angel that they have, and hope that they walk out again.

Castiel has assured Dean that Lucifer will have taken Katie as his vessel this time, it is the only reason that Astaroth would have taken the girl with her when she left, Katie had served her purpose as far as the release of the Horsemen went, but as a closed vessel, Lucifer would only ever leave the body of his own free will, he could never be forced out so the method that Katie attempted to use to stop him the last time will be useless. Dean is less than happy about the fact that he will have to kill the young woman who got pulled into all of this against her will, who got dragged back in after they had tried to keep her out of it.

Due to the location, however, they do take a moment to rethink, to allow the angel to assure them that there is a lengthily ritual that Lucifer will have to complete before the sacrifice can be made, it is one that he cannot afford to stop, although stopping him from completing the ritual would be another way to kill him.

Dean wants to ask how Castiel knows all of this now, where before it took him days to work out what Lucifer was trying to do. He wants to ask, wants to demand to know what Sandalphon did to Cas when he touched the angel on the forehead, except that Castiel has been more certain of himself since they got in the car, almost happy and Dean supposes that it is because the angel can see an end to it all now. An end to everything that this has been building towards for years, no more saving the world, no more fighting against both angels and demons, just Dean, Sam, Cas and Bobby, saving people and hunting things without the weight of the world on their shoulders. So sure, Dean can see the end coming too and he can admit to himself that he is looking forward to it, but he can also admit to himself that he is scared of this, scared of the way that it will affect his future, if he even has one.

The demons are not even bothering to hide in the field when the three hunters and the angel arrive, they simply stand there, watching and waiting, listening as Lucifer's voice, the soft pitch of Katie's coupled with the ancient power of the former Lightbringer that sends shivers through all gathered, cuts through the air. Sam, Bobby and Castiel are at the front, as much as Dean chafes at bringing up the rear, they need him alive to make the shot, they insisted on going through first. There was not time to argue it out, they simply ran with it all.

It is not so much an all out battle, Lucifer has diverted a number of his forces to back up the Horsemen while they distract Michael and the angels, which is something that Dean really does not understand, if Sandalphon knows this is a trap then surely Michael must too, so why are they not here dealing with it? Dean can only hope that they know what they are doing and knows that hope is a foolish one. So it is not so much of a battle but more of an ugly fight, Sam, Bobby and Cas quickly outnumbered and outgunned, struggling to keep their heads above the water as Dean fights his way closer, knows the range of the bow but does not want to risk missing, wants to be close enough to see the light of Lucifer's stolen eyes go out as the arrow cuts into him.

All he can hear is screaming and chanting and praying, screaming from the dying demons and his friends, more than friends, his damn _family_, even Cas, chanting from Lucifer, growing louder and more frantic and prayers falling from the lips of the angel that he has strapped to the alter, prayers to a Father who sees all and cares none. Dean is close now, so close as he slams an arrow into the heart of an approaching demon, not taking the time to aim, not taking the time to bother, knowing that the arrow will fly true this close.

Demon after demon falls and dimly, the heat of battle upon him and blood pounding in his ears, Dean is aware of Cas going down under the weight of the demons, of Sam going to his aid, of another demon falling at the hunter's feet, a demon in the body of a girl no older than seventeen.

His focus is not on that, is not on Bobby or Cas or Sam or any one of a hundred other things, it is not on Lucifer's words or the rise of his stolen voice. It is on the feel of ancient and holy wood in his hands, of the string taut against his fingers, the brush of his calloused hand against his cheek as he draws, the touch of his lips against the arrow as he aims and wills it to fire fast and fly straight and true, the cold sting as he releases and the rush of air as it flies, the pounding of his feet on the ground as he runs forward and the splash of bright blood against the blue shirt that Katie wears as the arrow goes right through her, right through Lucifer, and embeds itself in the body of a demon stood just behind, the clatter of Lucifer's blade hitting stone and the louder prayers of the angel who's name Dean does not know.

There is another arrow in his hand as he reaches Lucifer's side, bends back the head that belongs to Katie, sees blood on their lips as the former Lightbringer laughs even in the face of his own death.

"You lose," he laughs in Katie's voice, so different from her laugh. "You lose." Dean growls at him, growls at the devil, and shoves the arrow through his throat, through Katie's throat, stepping back as the body collapses, mind somehow telling him to pick up bow and sword before stepping back, shouting to Castiel just seconds before he is forced to close his eyes against the blinding light that comes from the dead body of the fallen angel and the screams of dying demons fill his ears as the light fades.

He is aware before he even opens his eyes that they are no longer alone on the field. Although the empty husks of demons lie dead in the grass and the body of Katie and Lucifer is at his feet, Dean knows that they are not alone and as he opens his eyes he is greeted with a sight he never thought he would see. The field is full of people, men, women, teenagers, all coated in splattered blood and carrying various weapons not out of place during the holy crusades. He can feel the others at his back now, close, watching those gathered and Dean knows, he just _knows_, that these are angels. Knows from the way that Castiel stands a little closer to him than is necessary, from the way that they all look at him, blank, unfeeling and uncaring.

"Congratulations," one of them steps forward, tall, dark skin and darker eyes, bald head and white teeth that flash in the sunlight. "You did well, Dean Winchester." There is no warmth, no joy, nothing and Dean wants to ask who this man is, this _angel _is. Hears Castiel mutter his name, Michael, and sees dark eyes turn upon his friend, steps in front of him, worried that this archangel will finish what was started so many months ago.

Another steps forward, this one in the body of a teen, black hair and eyes that should be sightless, reaches a hand out and touches Cas on the chin, searching his eyes and smiling at him, though the smile means nothing because it is cold, not as cold as Michael's but chilling all the same. Behind Michael, Dean can see Sandalphon, and another who is his opposite, but who seems close anyway. He feels surrounded and over powered and out matched, nearly misses the first words that Michael says to Castiel.

"You did well, Little Brother, played your part perfectly and we have what we want from it," the tone is sickly, cuts through all gathered, makes Dean's gut twist with something that screams nothing is right. "You have my," the leader of the archangels pauses, seeming to search for the word, "regrets," he settles on finally, "for all that was done to you, for the necessity behind it. Go with Raphael, let him heal you and restore you to grace that we may reward you."

Dean expects Castiel to jump at that, to run to leave with his kind, his people, to be healed and cured and returned to all that he knew. So he is surprised when Cas shrinks away from Raphael's touch, shakes his head, eyes wide and afraid, moving closer to Dean, to Sam and Bobby. Sees something flicker across Michael's face, something like anger and Raphael seems to throw a look that is reproachful at him.

"Very well," Michael snaps and raises a hand. Just like that the angels are gone, in a whisper of feathers and the breath of air across stunned faces.

SPN

It is a week since Lucifer was killed, a week since Dean fulfilled his destiny and stopped the Apocalypse. Sam and Bobby both have been in high spirits, looking for future hunts with an ease and lightness that would have made Dean's heart soar a month ago. Castiel is settling down, now, settling into the life of a hunter, already so firmly a part of the group, of the Winchesters, that there is no way that they have even considered leaving him to find his own way, he is going with them.

Dean knows he should be happy, knows he should be over the moon, but for one thing, but for Lucifer's words to him as he killed him, as he took Katie's life from her as well.

"_You lose."_

It is not until he turns on the television that he begins to comprehend the meaning there, not until he sees the news, an entire town dead, wiped out over night, with no sign of illness or attack, just dead, in streets, in their homes, at work. Dead. All of them. He understands.

The Apocalypse was never stopped with Lucifer's death, it is just that the agents of it were changed.

They failed.

_**Well, maybe there's a god above  
But all I've ever learned from love  
Was how to shoot somebody who out drew you  
It's not a cry that you hear at night  
It's not somebody who's seen the light  
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah**_

_**Hallelujah...**_

_Reviews are little Castiels that fly above our heads and mini Deans under the bed. A small Sam in hand and a tiny John by the chair, a review_ _that can show how much you care._

_Artemis_


End file.
